Ultra Street Fighter IV - The New Battleground

Street Fighter IV has come a long way since being released back in 2009. The continuous support from Capcom has enabled the game to evolve, having gone through three major updates (i.e. Super Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV: AE, and Super Street Fighter IV: AE 2012). To maintain the momentum, Capcom, at this year's EVO (the biggest fighting game tournament in the world), revealed its next installment for the Street Fighter IV series. Known as Ultra Street Fighter IV, the game will have new contents that should appease fans of old and new.

One of the things that Ultra Street Fighter IV will address is balancing characters so that, as Peter Rosas (longtime fighting game competitor and current staff member at Capcom) puts it, "every character is good" - so that if asked which character would make it to top 8 in a tournament, "you wouldn't know". And with the addition of five new characters to Ultra Street Fighter IV, it would be even more difficult to make such a prediction.

Currently, four out of the five new characters have been identified: Poison, Hugo, Elena, and Rolento. Of course, if you know Street Fighter, these characters have been a part of the brand at one point or another. The most recent being Street Fighter X Tekken. The fifth character, although unrevealed, is said to have never been a part of the Street Fighter world. Hence, the welcoming of a new cast member to the family.

Other notable features that Ultra Street Fighter IV will introduce include six new stages as well as more game modes. The game is expected to be released early 2014. It can be purchased for $14.99 as a DLC update from either the Super Street Fighter IV or Super Street Fighter IV: AE version. Those who would like to pick up a hard copy of the game may do so for $39.99. Pre-ordering the game will nab players the alternate costume for each of the new character. The hard copy, itself, will have all the alternate costumes for the previous roster.